The Book Publishers Association of Alberta’s annual conference and awards gala was held this past weekend in Calgary. If you want to know what publishers talk about when they are all grouped together, we have the inside scoop. Keep reading for our weekend recap and to see who won the awards!
AWARDS
This year, the guest speaker was Will Ferguson, author of Why I Hate Canadians and 419. Ferguson regaled us with hilarious tales of Canadian dancing in Ecuador, how he submitted his first manuscript, and how no one outside of Canada understood the title of his book Why I Hate Canadians.
Natalie Olsen of KissCut Design has designed many covers for AU Press over the years and we were thrilled that she was recognized for her work by being the only designer on the shortlist for Book Design. Her design for A Revision of Forward by NeWest Press won the award.
The award for Scholarly Book of the Year went to the University of Alberta Press for Street Sex Work and Canadian Cities by Shawna Ferris. Publisher of the Year was awarded to Freehand Books—an exciting win as they step out as an independent company this year. And our wonderful copyeditor, Joyce Hildebrand, won the Lois Hole Award for Editorial Excellence for her work on AU Press’s publication, Alberta Oil and the Decline of Democracy in Canada. This is the second time we have won this award and we are pleased to be recognized for our high standards and commitment to great books.
Thank you to Fred Stenson for hosting this event and to the Book Publishers Association of Alberta for organizing the gala and awards program.
Conference program
We started off with a panel called Writers on Writing that brought together a group of writers, Ali Bryan, Fred Stenson, and Rosemary Griebel, to talk about their experiences with publishers. The panel was moderated by Shelley Youngblut. In the Publishers on Publishing panel, the panelists talked about how publishers are acting like retailers because they now have more access to the reader. Thanks to Brian Hades from Edge Publishing, Kelsey Attard from Freehand Books, and Don Gorman from Rocky Mountain Books for sharing your insights.
The book is always better than the movie, but how does a book get made into a movie? Michael Jorgensen, a Canadian filmmaker talked to us about how to pitch to film producers. Jorgensen says that “the fastest way to become a screenwriter these days is to write a book.”
Glenn Rollans, in his presentation on The Economic World of Book Publishers, noted that book prices have been stuck since 1997. We wish everything else was still priced like the 90s.
Two librarians from the Calgary Public Library gave some insight on how books are selected for libraries and what is trending in lending. Saffron Beckwith, a sales rep with Ampersand Inc. came and spoke about selling books in Canada. She explained the process of meeting with book buyers such as Indigo and outlined what they are looking for in those presentations.
We heard from two of our major funders, Canada Council and the Alberta Media Fund, about new programs. Krys Ross, from eBOUND Canada, an exceptional organization that collects and distributes the ebooks for most of Canada’s book publishers, shared some new initiatives with us. We are continually impressed by eBound’s commitment to their clients and how much they are able to accomplish with a staff of four.
We had a great weekend talking books in such great company. We can’t wait to see everyone next year!
